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Thread: Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In

  1. #1
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    Kowloon Walled City

    Sammo Hung, 69, Makes Acting Comeback In HK Movie, Says It’s Because He Has “No Money”

    The martial arts legend will be showing off his moves in action thriller Kowloon Walled City.
    1.5-min read
    Ilsa Chan
    BY ILSA CHAN
    02 DEC 2021 18:00
    UPDATED 02 DEC 2021 17:00


    Martial arts legend Sammo Hung is making his acting comeback after a four-year hiatus.

    The 69-year-old, who has been mostly wheelchair-bound since undergoing knee surgery in 2017, is starring in action thriller Kowloon Walled City alongside Louis Koo, Richie Ren and Raymond Lam.

    The lensing ceremony for the movie was held in Hongkong recently and Sammo made an appearance. According to reports, the actor looked healthy despite needing a cane to walk.

    When asked why he decided to make a return to the big screen, he bellowed: “No money! The most important thing is the production team is willing to pay me!"

    Jokes aside, the veteran actor said he wanted to be part of this project as films about Hongkong featuring a full Hongkong cast are rare these days.


    Louis and Sammo
    He will also have the chance to show off his moves. Not only will Sammo have action scenes in the movie, he will also be facing off against Louis.

    "It's a pity there are no bed scenes in this movie," he laughed.

    Louis shared that the actors had to undergo training so they could perform their own stunts, and there was one scene so intense he had to shoot for five consecutive days.


    The cast of Kowloon Wall City
    Set in 1980s Hongkong, the movie is about the rise and fall of a gangster (played by Louis) in the Kowloon Walled City.

    The infamous slum, which was demolished in the mid '90s, is of great historical significance to Hongkong. It was called the "most densely populated place on earth" — 33,000 inhabitants lived in an area that's roughly the size of three and a half football fields — and has been described as a "labyrinth of lawlessness".

    In order to recreate the walled city, the production company spared no expense in creating a replica of the enclave, right down to the props.

    “All the magazines and TVs in the movie are from the 1980s. I used to have that kind of TV. It’s very nostalgic,” said Louis.

    Photos: Sinchew
    threads
    Sammo-Hung
    Kowloon Walled City
    Gene Ching
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  2. #2
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    Walled In

    May 18, 2022 10:30am PT
    WellGo USA Buys Soi Cheang’s ‘Walled In’ for North American Release
    By Patrick Frater

    Media Asia

    Soi Cheang’s “Twilight of The Warriors: Walled In” has been licensed to WellGo USA for North American release. The deal with Hong Kong’s Media Asia marks a rare advanced-sale of a commercial Cantonese-language movie in a market that has recently been marked by uncertainty.

    The action thriller is a live-action adaptation of the cult manga series “City of Darkness” that is set in the 1980s inside the almost lawless Kowloon Walled City.

    With a stellar cast headlined by Louis Koo (“Election”), Sammo Hung (“Ip Man”) and Richie Jen (“Trivisa”), the film recently completed production and is now in post-production. Media Asia is now planning a release at an unspecified date in 2023.

    “This is our first physical international market since the pandemic. And we are thrilled that things are getting back on track again,” said Frederick Tsui, Media Asia’s GM, head of sales and international co-productions. “The teaser promo that we’re showing in the Cannes Market has also sparked interest from many buyers, with offers already coming in from major territories including France, Germany, Japan, Korea and Singapore.”

    Soi Cheang (aka Cheang Pou-soi) is one of Asia’s top action directors, with credits including the “Monkey King” series, “Limbo,” “SPL II: A Time for Consequences,” “Motorway” and “Accident.”

    The film is produced by equally illustrious John Chong (“Infernal Affairs” series, “Initial D”) and Wilson Yip Wai-Shun (“Ip Man” film series, “Flashpoint”).

    Media Asia, one of Hong Kong’s premier studios, is also using its return to in-person festivals and sales events to give a market screening in Cannes to “Tales From the Occult,” a psycho-horror film jointly directed by Fruit Chan, Fung Chih Chiang and Wesley Hoi.
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  3. #3
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    Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In

    Mar 14, 2023 4:10pm PT
    John Chong on Making ‘Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In’ an Authentic Dive into Notorious Kowloon Walled City and Yet Emblematic of Hong Kong’s New Wave (EXCLUSIVE)


    By Patrick Frater

    Media Asia

    Kowloon Walled City — one of Hong Kong’s most famous landmarks, or infamous trouble spots, depending on your point of view — fell prey to the developers’ bulldozer 30 years ago. But it remains an icon of the territory’s gritty spirit and is being painstakingly re-created for action thriller feature “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.”

    The film is a beacon for how Hong Kong cinema is now evolving. Directed by hot-shot Soi Cheang, whose “Mad Fate” recently played in Berlin and is set for imminent local release, “Twilight” boasts leading stars Louis Koo, Sammo Hung and Richie Jen, plus emerging talents Philip Ng, Raymond Lau and Terrance Lau.

    The film’s HK$300 million ($39 million) budget makes it one of the most expensive Hong Kong productions of all time. But principal backer Media Asia is sparing no expense promoting the title. The company’s corporate booth at the FilMart rights market has been reimagined as a creepy alleyway that was typical of the former Walled City.

    The city was barely a hundredth of a square mile and was originally an imperial Chinese garrison that stood defiantly at the end of the Kowloon peninsula that 19th century China had been pressured to lease to Britain. The city has been characterized as a colony within a colony.

    After the troops withdrew, unregulated development made the Walled City a den of crime and a base for five overlapping triad gangs. It was also home to some 33,000 people, hundreds of small businesses (manufacturing and food production especially), in a zone known for hidden passageways, improvised power supplies and pervasive damp.

    Cheang’s film features troubled youth Chan, who accidentally enters the Walled City, discovers the order amidst its chaos, and learns important life lessons along the way. He becomes close friends with Shin, Twelfth Master and AV. Under the leadership of Tornado, they resist against the invasion of villain Mr. Big in a series of fierce battles. Together, they vow to protect the city, which they have come to regard as their safe haven.

    “We were aiming for the look and feel of a Louis Cha novel. So our story is fictional but we paid great attention to getting the historical details correct,” John Chong, who produces alongside Wilson Yip, tells Variety. “I can personally testify to the amazing work of the production designer, as I lived in the Walled City for a time when I was a college student.”

    With much of Hong Kong closed during the pandemic, the production was limited in its use of outdoor locations. Instead, standing sets were built at a film studio and in a deserted school.

    Cheang, who has a reputation as an indie director with first-rate commercial sensibilities, is increasingly viewed as one of Hong Kong’s finest talents. (The Hong Kong International Film Festival will give him a 10-film tribute next month.) That enabled him to pull together the cast of name stars.

    Over the last decade, there have been a growing number of question marks about the viability of the Hong Kong film industry, with a range of problems a including hot and cold relationship with the mainland Chinese industry, declining production numbers and the emergence of powerhouse multinational streamers, which have paid little attention to Hong Kong.

    Chong says it was not possible to raise the budget from Hong Kong alone. And the producers brought in Lian Ray Pictures, a mainland Chinese company with strong credentials as a producer and distributor. Its production credits include “Little Red Flower” “Sister” and “Schemes in Antiques.” “They are helping financially and will head distribution and marketing, and are in charge of relations with [mainland China’s] Film Bureau,” says Chong.

    “We were actually able to raise more money than we need. We had other Hong Kong investors, including Louis Koo, because they were so interested in this story of the Walled City and the things we built for it,” Chong adds.

    Chong says that Hong Kong cinema’s recent turnaround run of success has been spurred by a coincidence of factors. These include the emergence of Dayo Wong, a stand-up comedian, as a major star (“A Guilty Conscience,” “Table for Six”), a slew of other new performers making headlines and local filmmakers’ rediscovery of values that resonate with local audiences. “Poor people may not be able to get economic justice these days, but they are very happy to see justice in the cinema,” says Chong.

    While “Walled In” is in the familiar action genre, it is also an opportunity to showcase some of Hong Kong’s next generation of stars.

    “Our aim was always to train up some of the newcomers as well,” says Chong. “Philip Ng once played Bruce Lee in a small film for us once before. Now he is second only to Sammo Hung. He can really, really fight. Raymond Lam is a TV actor who had never been trained as a fighter, but turns out to be just fantastic. Terrance Lau we’ve had in ‘Beyond the Dream’ and ‘Tales of the Occult Part 2,’ and here he only has a small part in the ‘Walled City’ film, but we all agree that he lights up the screen. The main five have amazing chemistry.”

    The film is currently in post-production and headed for theatrical release at the end of this year or early 2024.
    I'm intrigued. Love Soi & Sammo and Philip is a personal friend.
    Gene Ching
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  4. #4
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    Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In

    Gene Ching
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    August 9

    From a WellGoUSA press release:
    Hello there,

    On behalf of Well Go USA, we are excited to announce the new trailer and poster for the upcoming Hong Kong action film “TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN,” releasing August 9 in select US theaters! Details below!

    It’d be great if you can share it with your audience via editorial and social! If you plan to do so, please let us know so that we can keep an eye out for it.

    Thank you!
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  6. #6
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    TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN | Official US Trailer | Louis Koo | Raymond Lam

    Gene Ching
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  7. #7
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    First forum review

    Best martial arts flick I've seen in years. How often do I say that?*

    I confess that I'm biased. It stars Philip Ng, a personal friend, who I've watched rise up from a US martial champion to a Hong Kong martial arts star. He's working with Sammo Hung a lot now (who has a part in this). Phil is an overthetop psycho villain with impenetrable Iron Shirt skills.

    This is directed by Soi Cheang who won me over with his brilliant Monkey King adaptation. This is an homage to that unique Hong Kong genre of triad films. It's based on a manhua (that's canto for manga) by Andy Seto that was novelized. It premiered at Cannes this year, and is the second highest grossing flick in Hong Kong of all time right now.

    Laden with draconian codes of 'ethics' and a wuxia underpinning, these are brutally ultraviolent, gritty and merciless. Think of the John Woo/Chow Yun Fat classics. Set in the notorious walled Kowloon city in the 80s, it's a dark and claustrophobic tale of an immigrant who falls into the triads. With echoes of Scarface, it's layered with backstory melodrama and vengeance, peppered with tasty ultravi with next level action choreography. The cinematography is crazy, heightening the action with a sanguineous panache and insane wirework. Like a classic wuxia, the Kung Fu masters have superhero superpowers, punching each other through cement walls and flying across rooms, but it's done with great effect, frenetic and furious but followable sequences that are fresh and clever. Luved it.

    Totally recommended.

    I reached out to Phil to compliment him on it and ask for an interview.



    *once every few years, I reckon.
    Gene Ching
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  8. #8
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    I'd love to see this.

    Replicas of Kowloon Walled City film sets to be exhibited at Hong Kong airport
    Chief executive will attend launch ceremony on Monday; sets ‘rebuilt’ after originals reportedly destroyed
    Reading Time:
    2 minutes

    Lo Hoi-ying
    Published: 10:40pm, 6 Oct 2024

    Replicas of the sets of a hit martial arts film featuring the Kowloon Walled City will go on display at Hong Kong International Airport, following earlier suggestions from authorities to turn the originals into tourist attractions.

    Organisers said on Sunday an exhibition displaying sets from Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In would be unveiled on Monday at the airport’s arrival hall, with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu attending the launch ceremony.

    “The exhibition comprises life-size sets of the Kowloon Walled City rebuilt from the movie set to give visitors an immersive taste of the history and culture of the area in its 1980s heyday and encourage them to further explore Hong Kong,” the organisers said.

    The two-part exhibition is organised by the Tourism Board, the Airport Authority, and the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau in collaboration with the filmmakers.

    The show will also be held at the Airside shopping centre in Kowloon City.

    The Post reported in May that the sets had been destroyed after the film was completed, citing a source who said it was too expensive to rent a place to keep them.

    The insider said authorities misunderstood the situation when they suggested turning the sets into tourist attractions.

    Culture chief Kevin Yeung Yun-hung earlier said the proposed exhibition might be presented in an augmented reality or hybrid format with physical displays.

    Both local and overseas audiences have taken to the 2024 film, which made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival and received a standing ovation.

    The film has grossed more than HK$110 million (US$14.2 million) in Hong Kong since its release on May 1, and has been selected by the city to compete for the best international feature film at the 2025 Oscars.

    The HK$500 million film is set in the 1980s inside the overpopulated and ungoverned de jure Chinese enclave that formed part of Hong Kong under colonial rule.

    It follows a young undocumented immigrant as he stumbles into the neighbourhood, making both friends and enemies while fighting a series of battles to defend his new home from feuding crime lords.

    The sets bring to life some of the once-distinctive features of the Walled City, such as its crowded environment and chaotic network of overhanging electrical wires and pipes.

    It was once considered the densest settlement in the world and often characterised as a lawless enclave with poor living conditions, rampant prostitution and a thriving black market that traded everything from pirated goods to narcotics.


    Lo Hoi-ying

    Hoi-ying became a reporter at the City desk in 2023 after finishing the Post's Graduate Trainee Programme. Originally from Singapore, she previously worked as a television news producer at Mediacorp and interned at the Shanghai-based Sixth Tone. She earned her master's degree in journalism from the University of Hong Kong and holds a bachelor's degree in communications from Nanyang Technological University.
    Don't think I'll be passing through HK any time soon though.

    I loved this movie. More to come...stay tuned...
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post



    Laden with draconian codes of 'ethics' and a wuxia underpinning, these are brutally ultraviolent, gritty and merciless. Think of the John Woo/Chow Yun Fat classics. Set in the notorious walled Kowloon city in the 80s, it's a dark and claustrophobic tale of an immigrant who falls into the triads. With echoes of Scarface, it's layered with backstory melodrama and vengeance, peppered with tasty ultravi with next level action choreography. The cinematography is crazy, heightening the action with a sanguineous panache and insane wirework. Like a classic wuxia, the Kung Fu masters have superhero superpowers, punching each other through cement walls and flying across rooms, but it's done with great effect, frenetic and furious but followable sequences that are fresh and clever. Luved it.
    Greetings,

    This reads like "Boxer From Shantung" and "Man of Iron", films based on a real life person: Ma Yong Zhen (Ma Yu Tsin). Interestingly, Philip Ng portrayed this same person in "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai"

    mickey

  10. #10
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    Nothing to do with Ma Yong Zhen

    Quote Originally Posted by mickey View Post
    Greetings,

    This reads like "Boxer From Shantung" and "Man of Iron", films based on a real life person: Ma Yong Zhen (Ma Yu Tsin). Interestingly, Philip Ng portrayed this same person in "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai"

    mickey
    It's completely different. Philip is the villain. Stay tuned, more to come...
    Gene Ching
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  11. #11
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    Ga;;ery on that airport exhibit

    October 9, 2024
    HONG KONG
    ‘Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In’ exhibition at Hong Kong International Airport

    Those arriving at the Hong Kong International Airport will be greeted by a 6.5-metre-high set restored from acclaimed local film “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”. The installation is part of an exhibit that also features a massive “Kowloon Walled City” neon city sign. The exhibit will run until November 20, 2024 before making its way to the AIRSIDE shopping mall in Kowloon City.

    13 pix behind the link
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  12. #12
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    Our latest exclusive interview

    The Best Kung Fu Film of 2024 - READ Philip Ng on TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN by Gene Ching

    Gene Ching
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  13. #13
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    Our latest sweepstakes - Enter to WIN

    Enter to win Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In on Blu-Ray Disc
    Contest ends 11/21/2024.

    Gene Ching
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